Thirty-five
years before the town of Denison was established in 1872,
settlers arrived in the rich prairies south of the Red River.

The Red River had been a 'line' over which the French and Spanish had
fought in their claims to the New World. The Red River was a
highway for French traders dealing with Caddo Indians. Posts existed
along the river which aggravated the quarrel between Spain and France.
Trappers had paddled the river with lucrative bounties of
pelts. But the are remained Indian Territory.

Daniel Dugan arrived in what is now Grayson County, Texas in April 1836
followed by other settlers. Indians had used a ford along
the Red River. This site was chosen by Col. Holland Coffee of
Arkansas to establish a trading post on the Texas side of the river.
Another trading post was set up by Abel Warren near the area
settled by Daniel Dugan. The post, also known as Fort Warren,
was not profitable and abandoned after a few years.

The Republic of Texas was established in 1836 and by 1840 had
established a fort of Texas Rangers commanded by William Preston in an
effort to settle its wide areas of Indian domain. A road
south to Elm Fork of the Trinity River was opened. The new
Ranger post was named Fort Preston. This new road was originally just a
cleared trail with the contract for its building stating that stumps
would not exceed twelve inches in height. The road became a
main artery of travel as settlers came in covered wagons across the
ford at Preston Road into the blackland prairies of Texas.

A settlement grew up near Colbert's Ferry - the haunt of
freighters, cowboys and buffalo hunters. This little town of
tents and shacks was located four miles north of what would become
Denison, Texas and was named Red River City.

Two railroads, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas from the north and the
Houston and Texas Central from the south, were building toward the Red
River crossing. The Grayson County seat of Sherman subscribed a bonus
to the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Having not been
offered a bonus by Sherman, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad
decided to develop a new town south of the Red River and extend its
lines east and west. The higher land, four miles south of Red
River City was selected by O. B. Gunn, chief engineer of the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas railroad, as the new townsite. Land was
purchased and the site was kept secret until the deal was closed.
The town was laid out and lots went up for sale on September
23, 1872. . . and Denison was born.

Residents of Red River City moved to the new townsite and began to
entice the Houston and Texas Central to their new town. The
two railroads raced their building operations toward the new town of
Denison, Texas. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas brought the
first train on Christmas Eve, 1872. The Houston and Texas
Central arrived in early 1873.